Dracula was first published on May 26, 1897 by Irish author Bram Stoker, featuring as its primary antagonist the vampire Count Dracula.
Original titles for the book include The Dead Un-Dead and then simply, The Un-Dead. The name of the count was originally “Count Wampyr”. While doing research, Stoker became intrigued by the name “Dracula”, after reading William Wilkinson‘s book Account of the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia with Political Observations Relative to Them. The name Dracula was the family name of the descendants of Vlad II of Wallachia, who took the name “Dracul” after being invested in the Order of the Dragon in 1431. In the Romanian language, the word dracul can mean either “the dragon” or, in the present day, “the devil”.
Source: Wikipedia